How Many Parks For Park Ridge?

Voters To Decide Fate Of 14-acre Tract

The future of a 14-acre tract in Park Ridge will be decided in a bond-proposal referendum in next Tuesday's election.

The land was vacated earlier this year by Edison Park Home, a 95-year-old residence for troubled adolescents that was owned by Lutheran Social Services of Illinois.

The agency sold the land last July to a residential property developer, but shortly afterward the Park Ridge Park District announced its own plan to buy the land and develop it into athletic fields.

The Park District's power to buy the land, through condemnation if necessary, is not in question, but the district would have to pay market value for the land. And its only source of funds for the purchase and development of the tract is voter-approved borrowing.

The proposition on Tuesday's ballot asks for voter approval to borrow $7.84 million to buy and develop the property. If approved, it would add about $46 a year to the real estate tax bill of a home with a $250,000 market value, park officials say.

A separate, unrelated proposition asks voters to allow $460,000 in borrowing for renovation of Hinkley Pool. If it passes, renovations would be done this winter and next spring to restrooms and to water filters and heaters. If it fails, the renovations would be done in stages between now and 2003.

The $7.84 million referendum question has generated considerable debate over the need for a park and the wisdom of spending the money.

Opponents say the land should be developed in a way that will generate tax money instead of spending it, and they also question the need for another new park.

Supporters say the city needs the park to accommodate burgeoning enrollment in organized athletic programs. They also note that school finance data indicate that if the land were developed with residences, the cost of educating children who live there will exceed real estate tax revenue generated for the schools by the new homes by at least $100,000.

"Yes, some of our parks are `idle' when kids are in school. But at our Centennial Park, you can't find a square foot that's not being used when school's out," said Stephen Meyers, the Park District's executive director. "From May to October, its the same way at all the major parks in town."

The tentative park development plan calls for five playing fields, including two for baseball and soccer, one for football and soccer, and two for soccer only, plus tennis, volleyball and basketball courts.

Cambridge Homes Inc. bought the land for an undisclosed price and announced plans to start construction on 50 to 55 homes there in the spring of 1997.

An unorganized but apparently sizable number of Park Ridge residents believe Cambridge should be allowed to go ahead with its plans.

"There already are two other parks in the immediate vicinity. A third one is overkill," said Marcella DiLeo.

Fred Schroeder, superintendent of Park Ridge-Niles School District 64, said the Edison Park property is in the Roosevelt Elementary School attendance area. The school was designed for 600 to 650 pupils and now has more than 700.

He estimated the proposed residential development would generate 27 to 35 new pupils. The district spends an average of $7,200 per pupil, which, for the projected number of new pupils, would range from $194,400 to $252,000. He said 50 homes would generate an estimated $2,000 each per year in real estate taxes for the schools, for a total of about $100,000.

Some Park Board members are urging the voters to approve the referendum proposal, and others are holding back.

Gary Somerman favors having the Edison Park referendum proposal on the ballot, but won't say whether he favors the proposal or not.

"I don't want to tell people what to do because there may be other (spending increase) issues coming up for the school and for the public library," Somerman said.

"If we had the money in our coffers now, we'd buy it. . . . But we'd be foolish not to offer the voters the opportunity to decide if this is what they want."